…and the house he shares with his people.

The Kitchen/Halls/Foyer/Stair Case: Painting with Pups

We had nothing against the color of these walls – but when the former owners took the plate racks (among other wall hangings) with them, they left behind walls with some serious patch work needs, to be followed by repainting. The halls on both floors, the foyer, staircase, and kitchen were (still are) all one color, so we wanted to take it on as a cohesive (if overwhelming) project. (The living and dining rooms were also similar color, but weekends have limits.)

The Project:

We weren’t entirely sure how to go about painting the two-story walls and ceiling on a staircase like this, so we called someone who had done one before:

“Dad…!”

We enlisted Dad (and his ladder and painting board collection) to help over Halloween weekend. We got an incredible amount done: we painted the stair case, the upstairs landing and hall, the downstairs hall, the front entry way, and the kitchen, all between Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

Equally important to the venture, Mom was on dog detail. Since we were painting right in the middle of the house, unlike a bedroom we couldn’t just shut a door to keep them out. So that we didn’t have two goldens knocking over paint cans or precarious ladders, she scratched ears, smeared peanut butter in Kongs, and walked miles around the neighborhood that weekend. We wound up getting a TON of painting done, with and with NO puppy fluff dried into it. Awesome.

Not to be completely excluded from the project, Chip helped hold the drop cloths down while we painted the ceiling.

Amazingly, the dogs were both still paint-free by Sunday.

…and After:

I’d be fibbing if I said it looked much different! The end result was really just that the walls look brighter, cleaner, they’re all exactly the same shade of cream, and there’s no sign of the holes left by the plate racks and other wall hangings. Mission: accomplished.

Creamy SW7012

We chose Sherwin-Williams Creamy (SW7012) for all of the continuous open spaces in the house. We blew the big bucks on Sherwin-Williams’ Duration Home paint for the Creamy areas, because it was one of the few paints that afforded us a washable matte finish. Oooh… Ahhh….

Now that it’s on the walls, I’m not sure it’s really a matte finish (eggshell maybe? – it’s not as flat as Behr flat paint) but we like it, and it was probably about as low a sheen as we could go with, and still retain washability. Plus, it’s environmentally friendly. Nice!